91 years ago a little know comedian name Charles Chaplin created a character that would bring smiles and laughter to many new generations,he also tried in his own way to add personal messages about how brutal life can be ,but that in the end the good at heart would win in the end and that life could be beautiful and was worth living.Of all his film works this is the only one that seems to have vanished without a trace.
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It's not certain that Chaplin actually appeared in Her Friend the Bandit, and it may never be known unless a print turns up. Mabel Normand was definitely in it, but the "Charlie" mentioned by contemporary reviews might have been Keystone comedian Charles Murray.
However, Chaplin is known to have contributed a cameo as himself to James Cruze's 1923 feature Hollywood, and all prints of that film have vanished. Other celebrities in the cast included Douglas Fairbanks and Roscoe Arbuckle.
Chaplin might also have contributed a cameo to a comedy featuring his brother Syd, a Keystone short of 1915 called Giddy, Gay and Ticklish (great title!). Another lost film.
It seems that the film "The Thief Catcher" rediscovered in 2010 directed by Ford Sterling and with Chaplin in a bit part is a completely different movie than this one.
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Yes, it is certainly different. Here is the Moving Picture World review of this film:
HER FRIEND THE BANDIT (Keystone), June 4.—Charles Chaplain and Charles Murray play the chief funny characters of this farce which is a bit thin; but has the rough whirling of happenings usually found in farces of this well-marked type. It will amuse and make laughter and can be considered a safe, rather than noteworthy offering.
Murray seems to have come in late March to Keystone. Ford Sterling probably left in February, after doing "Across the Hall."